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25 Nov 2008 : Column 1258W—continued
| Table 2: Offences currently( 1) recorded as homicide where the age of victim is under 16 and the apparent circumstances of killing is child/sexual abuse: England and Wales, 2003-04 to 2006-07( 2,3) | |
| Year offence initially recorded as homicide( 2) | Number of victims |
| (1) As at 12 November 2007; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2) Is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made. (3) Data for 2007-08 are not yet published. | |
Offensive Weapons: Young People
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of recent trends in levels of teenage knife crime. [217323]
Jacqui Smith: The number of 13 to 19 year-old victims of homicide involving a sharp instrument rose from 26 in 2000-01 to 27 in 2006-07 indicating overall a slight increase.
Surveys indicate that young people may carry knives out of fear of mugging, or being bullied, or to gain respect and status within a group or gang.
In 2006 we decided to improve data collection to get a clearer picture of the scale of knife crime. These figures were published on 17 July show that there were 22,151 offences of serious violence involving knives (ie attempted murder, wounding with intent to commit GBH, wounding or inflicting GBH (ie without intent), or robbery) in 2007-08. This was the first year that these figures were
available and will in future provide information on trends for these offences. These figures are not broken down by age group.
We take knife crime extremely seriously and have announced a programme of action, based on the successful Tackling Gangs Action Programme model, to combat this issue. The action includes increased enforcement activity including the use of search equipment, prevention through educational initiatives such as Be Safe, development of the knife referral project to ensure that young people who are convicted of carrying knives but who do not receive a custodial sentence are required to attend a weapons awareness programme. We have also launched a £3 million three-year publicity campaign designed by young people focusing on the risks and consequences of knife carrying. This is being delivered via a social networking site, radio advertisements, posters and viral video clips.
Police: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers, (b) police constables, (c) police sergeants and (d) police community support officers were working in the London Borough of Bexley in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008 to date. [238136]
Mr. Coaker: Police personnel statistics are not collected by borough. Data are collected by basic command unit (BCU), although they are not collected by rank at this level. However, Bexley is a BCU within the Metropolitan Police.
BCU figures are published annually as a supplementary table to the Police Service Strength Statistical Bulletin. The current publication can be found at:
and previous years' publication can be found in the House of Commons Library.
There were 371 full-time equivalent police officers in the BCU of Bexley as at 31 March 2007, and 361 such officers as at 31 March 2008.
There were 87 full-time equivalent police community support officers in the BCU of Bexley as at 31 March 2007, and 106 such officers as at 31 March 2008.
Police: Driving Offences
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police drivers have been prosecuted or disciplined for driving offences committed while at work in each of the last five years. [238847]
Mr. Coaker: Information is not collected centrally on the occupation of offenders unless specific to the offence legislation.
Police: Gwent
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect on the delivery of policing in Gwent of the proposed changes to the level of police grant for the forthcoming financial year. [229961]
Mr. Coaker: The Government announced last year provisional funding totals for the three year period 2008-09 to 2010-11. The stability of funding provided by a three year settlement enables police authorities to develop medium term financial strategies and control their spending. We will finalise grant allocation for 2009-10 shortly.
Gwent police authority received £80.6 million in general grant for 2008-09, an increase of 2.5 per cent. (£2.0 million) over 2007-08. This is in line with the minimum increase guaranteed for all police authorities in England and Wales. Gwent benefits from this decision. If the needs based police funding formula had been strictly applied it would have received £2.3 million less.
Between 2006-07 and 2007-08, the Gwent police force area experienced a nine per cent. fall in overall crime, a 20 per cent. fall in theft of a motor vehicle, and violence against the person had fallen by 13 per cent. during the same period.
Police: Pensions
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the projected savings are of the 2006 Police Pension Scheme changes in relation to public sector pensions for the police. [230355]
Mr. Coaker: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 824W.
Police: Resignations
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers resigned from police forces in England and Wales in each of the last three years. [224470]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 6 October 2008]: The available data are given in the following table.
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